Dorianne Laux the Poem, \"Smoke\"

Dorianne Laux

The poem, "Smoke" by Dorianne Laux has as its central topic of focus both the danger and beauty of smoking. The assertions she makes in her poem can however be applied to all types of addiction. An addictive habit ensnares not because of its danger, but as a result of its very attractive beauty. In the poem, Ms. Laux then focuses on the physical and mental pleasure brought about by the act of smoking, and also shows the concomitant danger of the habit. The reader is left with the impression that the very danger of smoking is part of its beauty. Like life, smoking would have been neither as beautiful nor as addictive if it had not ended in death.

The line "All down the block something inside you opens and shuts" is somewhat puzzling. The beginning of the poem indicates that the smoker is alone in a dark room - the reference of "down the block" therefore does not make literal sense. It is not indicated that the person ever leaves the room. The smoke however is "...slipping out between the sill and the glass, sucked into the night you don't dare enter...." As such, the smoke forms a type of alter-ego for the smoker, entering where the smoker doesn't dare. In this way, the smoke allows the smoker to live a life that would not otherwise be possible. It slips from the window to the night outside, and appears to almost carry the night back for the smoker to experience. In this way, the smoke acts as a surrogate for the feelings and experiences the smoker wishes to experience; it brings to the smoker the beauty for which he or she wishes: "its eyes drunk and swimming with stars." The fact however remains that the smoker is only "almost safe." The safety of the room is an illusion, and the danger the smoke faces in the night is in fact the danger that the smoker invites into the room and into his or her physical body. The danger of the smoke becomes the danger of the smoker.

To return to the "All down the block" reference. The first part of the line refers to the smoke that enters the night, and also to the noises that the smoke brings back into the room, as it were. The "almost safe" reference is directly connected with the noise of the dumpster: "Somewhere a dumpster is ratcheted open by the claws of a black machine." The dumpster could be symbolic of the smoker's body: he or she is pouring the "trash" of the addiction into the body as if the latter is a dumpster. The color black is also significant. It could symbolically refer to the blackness of the smoker's early death, or it could physically refer to the black slime the smoke creates in the smoker's lungs. The "night" could also refer to the smoker's body in the line "...sucked into the night you don't dare enter..." The word "suck" appears to indicate that the smoke enters more than the night outside the body of the smoker. It also enters the night inside. The smoker's body is turned into a dangerous turmoil of spillage and garbage by what he or she chooses to enter into it. For fear of what might be found, the smoker is afraid to look, but continues the addiction nonetheless.

When seen in connection to the dumpster and the night, the "open and shut" reference also makes more sense. The dumpster opens when something is thrown in, and shuts again to keep the garbage or the smell from escaping. The smoker opens his or her mouth and lungs for the smoke to enter, and closes down to enjoy the effect of the smoke. Open and shut could refer to the smoker's eyes. The smoker opens his or her eyes in order to see the cigarette and light it, and closes them in order to experience the pleasure of smoking more fully. In combination, the two parts of the sentence "All down the block something inside you opens and shuts" then refers to the mental process of the smoker while in the throes of enjoying the cigarette. The person as it were travels mentally to the dangerous night on the wings of the smoke that escapes the room. He or she opens and shuts to the experience and to the addiction: opens to let it in, and shuts to keep it inside, not wanting to let it go. This is substantiated by the opening line: "Who would want to give it up..." - certainly not the smoker.

The entire poem is filled with this type of juxtaposition: smoking is both beautiful and dangerous; it provides the illusion of safety even while it kills. The smoker is fully aware of death lurking both outside and inside the body, ready to pounce at some inopportune moment. The poem is almost as filled with death symbolism as it is with the beauty of the smoke that brings it about.

The "rasp" of the smoker's breath contrasts sharply with the elegance of the smoke itself, explicated in imagery such as the "scarf" around the smoker's shoulders and the light, liquid quality of the smoke, unmatched by any song or music. Like the smoke, the rasping breath grows lighter and lighter until it is finally thin enough to cease existing. The smoky "fingers crawling the pale stem of your neck" also signifies death in a very visual and somewhat horrifying way. The images solicited by diction such as "crawling" and "pale" are of corpses and crawling insects in the grave.